Created with Purpose

Created with Purpose
Mark: Who is this Man?
Mark 11:12-26

 If you don’t know your purpose, you will quit when things get hard.  And you will replace the purpose that God has for you with the wrong things. 

Mark 11:12-14 - On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

• Jesus had just entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey – the King had arrived, and things could have been so incredible.  However, an entire nation had lost it’s “why.”

Main Idea: Living the faithful life requires a clear, and consistent commitment to your purpose.

I: There is a great cost when you forget your purpose.

Every go to the store because you need a couple things, then forget everything you went there for? The fig tree represented the temple, the religious elite, and in some ways, an entire nation and the effect of losing their purpose.

Mark 11:20-21 - As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”

A. It wasn’t the season for figs – so why did Jesus curse it?
B. Because it represented the fruitlessness of Israel, the unbelief and exploitation of the religious leaders, and the mockery of the temple. It was also a prophetic act – as the temple would soon be sacked a left in ruin…
C. Another question, since Jesus had the power to curse the fruitless fig tree, why didn’t He just cause it to grow fruit?
D. He certainly could have, just as He could have caused the Pharisees and the Sadducees to become fruitful too, but because of the hardness of their hearts they missed it.
E. The religious leaders had a great purpose.  They were the teachers of the Law and the keepers of the temple.  But instead, they used their power to promote self and exploit the people. 

Main Idea: Living the faithful life requires a clear, and consistent commitment to your purpose. 

Let’s look at what was going on at the temple:

II: When the original purpose is forgotten a new purpose emerges in its place.

Mark 11:15-19 - And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city.

A. To understand the seriousness of what was happening here – we need to understand what the purpose of the temple was.
B. It was the dwelling place of God.
1 Kings 6:11-13 - Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”

C. Because it was the dwelling place of God, there should have been a holy reverence and constant worship and glorifying of God.
D. It was a place of prayer for all nations.
Isaiah 56:6-7 - “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain, andmake them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

E. Because it was a place of prayer for the nations, the foreigners should have been welcomed and encouraged to come to the God of Israel.
F. The purpose of the temple had been forgotten, and the religious leaders created a more selfish purpose and used the temple to exploit people. 

Main Idea: Living the faithful life requires a clear, and consistent commitment to your purpose.

III: What is our purpose?

Every kid at some point asks, what am I here for? But, specifically for the Church we must be able to answer this question.

The Church has a three-part purpose:

A. The first of this three-part purpose is the exaltation of God.
Ephesians 1:11-14 - In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

B. At Berean we call this “enjoying God together.”
C. The second of the three-part purpose of the Church is the edification of the saints.
Colossians 1:28 - Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-15 - And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

D. We call this – “Growing in grace and truth”.
E. And the third purpose of the Church is to evangelize the world.
Matthew 28:19-20 - Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

F. Here at Berean, we call this “taking life in Christ to the heart of Ohio and beyond.”

Now, if this is our purpose, it should drive what we do – as the why should always drive the what.  And it helps us assess whether or not we are being successful in what we are called to do.  

 So, how do we measure success?  It can’t just be about numbers, otherwise a Grateful Dead concert could be considered a spiritual success – so it has to be something else.  

I believe we need to measure our success by our sending capacity not our seating capacity. 

As a church and as individual followers of Jesus let us live with purpose and live sent!